Race by Bike, Subway and Taxi From Downtown Brooklyn to Columbus Circle

Monday, MONDAY, MONDAY, May 3rd
8 am at Junior's Restaurant (Flatbush & DeKalb, in Brooklyn)
8:30 am at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park

On Monday May 3, Bike Month NYC gets rolling with a commuter "race," a contest to see what gets New Yorkers around faster—a natural gas powered car, the subway or a bicycle. Paul White (Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives, New York City's advocates for bicycling and walking), Gene Russianoff (Senior Attorney, NYPIRG's Straphangers' Campaign, the City's voice for subway and bus riders) and Jon Orcutt (Executive Director, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the alliance of civic organizations working to reverse deepening automobile dependence and sprawl in the New York City metropolitan region) will race from Junior's Restaurant in Brooklyn to the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park.

"Biking is booming in the Big Apple," says Transportation Alternatives' Projects Director, Noah Budnick. "Everyday, 110,000 New Yorkers ride bikes to commute or run errands; that number is up from 75,000 daily riders just ten years ago."

In the past year, cycling in New York City has benefited from Mayor Bloomberg opening the intern Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, new bike lanes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, continued 24/7 bicycle access to the subway and Staten Island Ferry and a new, stronger bike rack design.

According to 2000 Census figures, New Yorkers have longest average commute in the country, about 45 minutes. However, the average bicycle commute in New York City only takes 30 minutes.

Bike Month NYC, presented by Transportation Alternatives and the NYC Department of Transportation, honors the bicycle as a convenient, quick, quiet, clean and community-friendly form of transportation. This year's thirteenth annual celebration of cycling in New York City features over 200 events throughout all five boroughs between April 24 and June 6. The calendar of events is available at bike shops and online at www.bikemonthnyc.org.